Oblivion Episode 8 - Analog Water For Digital Fire
by Gabriel Seraph
Summary: This story is inspired by Organization XIII. Great liberties have been taken with names, places, etc. in order to create as original a story as possible. A number of odd happenings around the world seem like nothing important to Tim and friends - until Halloween night, when Blancoville is attacked by a computerized menace that tries to burn the town to cinders. AU, with some OC's.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Remember to read the first seven parts of Oblivion before beginning this one. Enjoy!

Episode 8 - Analog Water For Digital Fire

Chapter 1

Lucien had no idea what he was doing, except that it was to help the Superior figure out where and when to position the dimensional seal. And what purpose the dimensional seal would serve, he, again, had no idea. In his mind, thanks to the Google-Glass-type virtual-reality display, all he could see was what the creature saw in the game - or, at least, what he thought was a game. He made his creature jump into the air and fly at high speed into the southeast, before dropping a disk of glass onto a large cityscape below. Nobody would be hurt or killed by the disk, just so long as he shot it out at exactly the right moment. Give or take a second, but no more.

Once this was done, Lucien flew his creature into the sea nearby and allowed the water to crush it to death, because there would of course be plenty more where that came from. He pulled the headset off his head and handed it back to the Superior, before returning to the tiny room and putting on another headset, which allowed him access to a vast array of simulations that the Superior gave him to keep himself busy with when he wasn't needed. Which was quite a large percentage of the time, since this was only the first time in a year he'd been allowed into the main lab.

* * *

Tuesday morning, October 30, 9am. Tim and Axel and Rocky got up and made their way downstairs to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Tim turned on the TV and started flipping through the channels like usual, but all the channels had the same old story about some kind of big birdlike thing being spotted flying over Rio and, minutes later, a small but powerful gas explosion in the center of the city.

"Dude, this isn't important," said Axel, grabbing the remote. "Why don't we just watch _Revolution_ while we're home all day?" He cycled through the DVR menu. "Ooh, 'Sex and Drugs,'" he said. "Sounds like buttloads of fun." He put the show on, and he and Tim sat back to watch last night's show. It had been quite a while since they'd seen it, since this episode had been postponed a week already.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Once Tim and Axel finished their show, Tim turned his attention to his cell phone, which had been buzzing repeatedly in his pocket the whole time, just begging him to answer it. Upon turning the screen back on, he discovered a small number of text messages from Ashley, saying that the band was going to meet at Garibaldi's for lunch at 11:30 that morning. Dashing off a reply of "yes," Tim went upstairs and put on some more decent clothes. Not that Garibaldi's had a dress code, but Tim just wanted to show the fine Italian restaurant some respect.

Tim was actually the first to arrive; Ashley, Tara, and Bobby were all fashionably late by about a minute. They took their seats and perused the menu before each selecting manicotti. "It's funny we're here to talk shop," said Bobby. "Remember the last time we did that?"

"What do you mean?" asked Tim, somewhat mystified.

Tara laughed. "Oh yeah. _That_ day."

Ashley practically snorted water out of her nose in her haste to add to the story. "Didn't you ever wonder why we picked the name 'Lethal Tomatoes' for our band?"

"Well, it just sounded like a good name for a rock band, so I went with it, no questions asked," said Tim. "Now you're telling me there's a story behind it? Do I wanna know?"

"Three years ago, Garibaldi's didn't exist," Tara began. "This place was called Il Lessico. We came here, tried to come up with a band name, had no success - at first."

Bobby smiled at the memory. "See, Il Lessico made a wonderful marinara sauce, homemade, the whole deal. But that one day, it seemed we got a batch made from improperly washed tomatoes."

"Pesticides, poisons, what have you," Ashley jumped in. "We were in the hospital for a week because of the food poisoning. So when we come out, we learn that one of us" - here she gave Tara a filthy look - "has lawsuit-happy 'rents. Who sued the pants off the owners, allowing Mr. Garibaldi to come in and pick the place up for a song. And in honor of that day, when proper food came to this shithole town for the first time, we named our band after the instruments that made it all possible - the Lethal Tomatoes!"

Tim stared for a second, then finally he burst out laughing. "You named your band after foodstuffs that nearly killed you? What kind of sick souls have I joined forces with?"

"Well, we did think it would be funny to show you a video of Tim and Axel look-alikes in love," Tara pointed out. "Sorry if we offended you, by the way."

"No problem," said Tim. "I've gotten over it, that's all that matters. If Axel hates you, then everything in the universe is totally in order."

Ashley nodded. "Got it memorized. Now, to business. School's starting up again on Thursday - insert collective groan here- and it seems we've been asked to provide entertainment for the grand re-opening."

"Really now?" asked Bobby. "Suddenly the principal likes us?"

"Actually, it's the vice principal who asked for it," said Ashley. "Well, more like acting principal now. The real one is most likely gonna get fired because of what he did to us."

Tara clapped her hands in delight. "Yay!"

"So we're here to decide what songs are gonna be in our setlist," said Ashley.

"And eat merrily," Tim added, looking up as the waiter came back to serve them their four plates of manicotti.

Bobby tasted the manicotti and did the typical Italian kissing-the-fingertips gesture. "No poison detected," he says. "Most un-lethal tomatoes these are."

"Wonderful!" said Ashley, as she, Tara, and Tim followed suit and dug in.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tuesday, October 30, 11:00pm. Ansem entered the lab and released another computerized creature into the world through the In-Between. This was a white creature, not a black one, because the intended destination would still be experiencing daylight hours. Then he called the younger version of Lucien into the lab to run yet another "simulation." This time, he used his headset to direct the creature across the sea to a different large city far away. This time, the glass disk was dropped in the middle of the harbor that cut into the city's coastline, while the creature flew high up into space, ultimately dissolving into numbers that soon boiled away in the vacuum.

This time, Ansem smiled as the simulation was finished with its run. "Happy Halloween," he said, chuckling under his breath as he turned the nightly news on and waited for the report to break.

He did not have long to wait. Within ten minutes the Breaking News graphic appeared - very rare for that time of night - as amateur video, just posted to YouTube, depicted what appeared initially to be some kind of expensive, CG-enhanced hoax. But Ansem knew better. After all, he had just ordered that very same wave to wash over the distinctive triangular, shell-like profile of the Sydney Opera House.

Ansem turned to Vexen and said, "I'll be using the fire seal for sure. The water one just doesn't do enough damage unless you're right next to the water itself."

Vexen nodded. "It'll be interesting to see when Tim and Axel get involved with this."

"Tomorrow, dear," Ansem said. "I'm already anticipating it greatly. Now, to bed." They entered the elevator and returned home. Once this was done, Braig entered the room and took a look at the news report, which Ansem had forgotten to turn off. He then pulled the nearest phone out of its cradle and placed a call.

"Fire," he said simply.

"Dammit," responded the female voice on the other end. "Well, hopefully Nine will be up to the task."

"Analog water for digital fire," Braig said, hanging up. _Guess Vexen was right. This would be interesting. Very interesting._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Tim and Ashley decided to spend their Halloween morning taking a walk in the hills above Blancoville. Traipsing up the steep hills, they turned to appreciate the view of the town and nearby bay. "Looks surprisingly beautiful, doesn't it?" asked Ashley.

"I guess," said Tim. "But it doesn't really beat the ocean view in Sand City."

"What could?" Ashley wondered aloud. "Hey, if you look over there, you'll see the Garibaldi farm."

Tim laughed. "What are you, some kind of tour guide?"

"No seriously," said Ashley. "That's where the Garibaldis live." She pointed at a small valley right between the hill they were climbing and the next one due north. "That's where the un-lethal tomatoes come from. And their everything else. I hear they've been trying to breed white truffles there."

"That would really be something, wouldn't it?" Tim asked. "More white truffles for everyone! Have they had any success?"

Ashley smiled. "Supposedly, they are planning to put them back on the menu right before Christmas."

"It's a date, then," said Tim. He took a protein bar from his backpack and handed another to Ashley. While she ate, she took out her phone and took a look at the news app just to see if there was anything about the potential re-opening of the school. Instead, the front page was devoted to a video about the freak flood at the Sydney Opera House.

"Whoa," she said. "Tim, take a look at this." She handed him her phone. Once he'd seen the video, he said, "Damn. There goes our backup plan."

Ashley laughed. "What?"

"Well, what if school doesn't open tomorrow morning after all?" Tim pointed out. "Where were we gonna perform all the songs we practiced yesterday?"

"Sydney Opera House?" Ashley chuckled. "Timmy, you funny, but not that funny. Sheesh, having to explain the joke really is not good at all, don't you know?"

Tim only laughed in response.

"Oh, and speaking of school..." Ashley said slowly. "I forgot to point this out yesterday, but I was hoping to have our last song of the day be 'Madness.' That's okay with you, right? You being such a Muse fan and all, I'd be shocked if you didn't know that song already."

"Yeah, of course it's okay," Tim lied. In truth, he was scared that by doing so, the secret of his shape-shifting guitar would be exposed to everyone. Somehow he didn't get the impression that that sort of impossibility would go over well with the people of ODCHS. Or with the rest of the Lethal Tomatoes. What if he suddenly started playing an extra guitar part that wasn't even needed?

For the first time, Tim wondered if he could actually play the song without changing his guitar's shape. He was surprised the thought hadn't even occurred to him before. _Well,_ he thought, as he and Ashley descended the hill, _I guess it couldn't hurt to find out._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Try as he might, though, Tim had absolutely no success in keeping his guitar in its original shape during even a single rendition of the notes that triggered the change each time. He came close, but how was he ever going to explain the fact that his guitar kept changing colors? Even the sound kept changing - when the color remained blue, the strings changed to some other kind of metal.

After a full hour of this, Axel snapped and flung another old CD at the wall, watching it crack in two and fall to the floor afterwards. "Timmy, I think you've been practicing that riff enough already," he said in his driest possible voice.

Tim hit a sour note as he pulled his fingers away too quickly from the guitar neck. "Got any ideas for how I can make it stay in the right form?"

Axel twisted a strand of hair around his fingers, and allowed a little bit of flame to burn it off. "Well, the color keeps changing half the time, right? Just concentrate and tell it to just shift between, like, blue and black. It'll be like the color-changing ink they have on dollar bills."

"I suppose you wouldn't mind seeing me screwing my eyes shut in psychic concentration for a full five minutes?" Tim asked. "Complete with _Pstandard Psychic Pstance?_" he added, emphasizing his words to ensure that the silent P's in one of his favorite TVTropes entries would be heard.

"Guess not," said Axel. "That'd be kinda funny, actually."

Tim sighed. "Some help you are." He resumed his attempts at practicing the psychic concentration, prompting Axel to stand up - Tim could almost hear the gears creaking as he did so - and leave.

Actually, though Tim didn't want to admit it to himself, Axel did have a great point. So he tried it out, keeping his mind concentrated on making sure nothing would change but the color of the guitar's body. It wasn't perfect, shifting to red instead of his intended black, but at least it was a start. Now all he had to do was make sure it wouldn't keep changing erratically the way it had been doing for the last hour.

But he wouldn't get a chance to do this, because before long Ashley called him up. "Timmy, great news!" she squealed as soon as he accepted the call. "The Garibaldis invited us to their farm for a Halloween party!"

"What? Really?" Tim was overjoyed at the prospect of a Halloween party - he'd even been saving his "I'm The Slayer" shirt just for the occasion - but still, it didn't hurt to be a tad bit suspicious, especially on this night of tricks and treats. Emphasis on the former; Tim had more than once been burned by Axel's moronic pranks on this most haunted night of the year. "You're not shitting me here?"

Ashley laughed. "Language, little boy. And no, I most certainly am not shitting you. Whether or not I am kidding you, however, remains to be seen, and will not be seen at all unless you come up to the Casa de Garibaldi with us tonight! Oh, and bring your axe. I think the old man said something about us being the live entertainment."

"Live entertainment?" Tim asked. "Interesting idea. So how are we gonna get there? I don't exactly know the way, you know."

"Well, Tara's boyfriend is driving us," Ashley said. "He lives across the bay, but he's still willing to come out here and do us all a favor. Provided, of course, he gets to sing 'Time is Running Out.' That's his favorite."

Tim nodded, even though nobody was there to see him. "I do believe you've convinced me to come along for the ride," he said.

"Awesome!" said Ashley. "Come over to Tara's place round about five, and we'll be leaving by 5:30. 'Kay?"

"'Kay, 'kay," said Tim brightly. _Man, I gotta stop joining Rocky in his _Victorious_ viewing sessions_, he thought to himself. _They're poisoning my speech_. He hung up and immediately changed into the Buffy shirt, then checked the time. Four-fifteen. Just enough time to get in a little more practice on making sure his guitar wouldn't give itself away tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Halloween evening, 5pm. Ansem sat at one of the many computer stations in the lab and clicked his screen, zooming in on a bird's-eye-view of the location of the third and final seal event. Set to take place that night, this experiment would likely prove far more powerful and effective than the previous two. He certainly hoped so. After all, if the creature couldn't wreak maximum havoc on the night when it was most powerful, how would they ever be able to open the In-Between successfully?

He checked his watch. Two and a half hours to go. More than enough time to get a little rest while he waited. _Too bad I have to roast some delicious fungi before their time_, he thought sadly. Ansem closed down his computer and headed upstairs.

* * *

5:30pm. Tim arrived at Tara's place just in time to leave for the Garibaldi farm. Tara's boyfriend had already arrived from San Castiel and was waiting in the driver's seat of his Sentra, which was idling in the driveway. Ashley and Bobby had already taken their places in the backseat, leaving Tim to sit behind Tara's boyfriend, a dark-haired boy in a red-and-black hoodie who introduced himself as Mac Ashton.

"So, Ashley says you enjoy 'Time is Running Out,'" Tim said. "Enough to want to do guest vocals for us, I hear."

Mac grinned. "Yeah, that's one of my biggest favorites. My friends actually started banning that song in their presence 'cos I love it so much."

"But not us," giggled Tara, who sidled into the passenger seat at that moment. Mac took this as his cue to pull out and start heading for the hills. He put on the stereo and soon the sounds of the very new Imagine Dragons record filled the car. Every one of the five occupants started belting out the lyrics to "Radioactive," and once it ended, Ashley said, "Guys, we really gotta learn that song already."

They all laughed. As awesome as "Radioactive" was, the band also knew it would be plenty tough for them to replicate it, especially with the lack of any software to create the dubstep-like electro-beat. Tim was also a bit hesitant to sing it, because the song was full of high notes like nobody's business and would be murder on his vocal chords.

By six o'clock, they had arrived and were starting to move their instruments into the house in preparation for the performance. By six-thirty, they were fully set up, but the party hadn't even officially started yet, and so the Lethal Tomatoes indulged in a little bit of the Garibaldis' appetizers. The bagna càuda (described by Mrs. Garibaldi as "one of our oldest family recipes") was particularly delicious, because it departed somewhat from tradition in its use of white truffles.

It wasn't until seven-thirty that the first trick-or-treaters started to show up, and the family gave the band the signal to start playing. They decided to hold off on Mac's guest appearance until at least eight, so instead, to start off, they chose "Witch Hunt" by Rush. Although they were nowhere near the level that the original performers were, they did a more than passable performance, which was greeted with great enthusiasm by the guests.

"Wow," said Tim after the song was over. "This party's on fire!"

* * *

As it happened, mere seconds after he said those words, the party would literally be on fire. Five minutes earlier, Ansem had returned to the lab and gathered up Lucien, as well as Lara. He sent another digital monster out into the world from underneath the preservation pod and left Lucien in charge of the controls. It was only a digital creature, after all, as he reminded Lucien, and it was only a simulation.

Except it wasn't. Lucien was really directing a horrifying, nightmarish holographic hellhound to tromp across the dark grounds of the Garibaldi farm. With the right keystrokes, he was able to see a freaky monster rear back and breathe fire onto the propane tank attached to the shed right behind the house. The tank exploded instantly, and was followed by a chorus of screams from inside the house.

Had he not been underground at the time, Lucien probably would have heard the loud boom echo down from the hills.


End file.
